APUSH Units 1 and 2 SAQ Practice
"1. For having upon specious pretenses of public works raised great unjust taxes upon the Commonality for the advancement of private favorites. . . . For not having during this long time of his Government in any measure, advanced this hopeful Colony either by fortifications, Towns, or Trade. . . . "3. For having wronged his Majesty's prerogative [authority] and interest by assuming Monopoly of the Beaver trade, and for having in that unjust gain betrayed and sold his Majesty's Country and the lives of his loyal subjects, to the [Native Americans]. . . . "5. For having when the Army of English was just upon the track of those Indians . . . expressly countermanded [withdrawn], and sent back our Army, by passing his word for the peaceable demeanor of the said Indians . . . , being protected by the . . . said [Governor] Sir William Berkeley . . . and are by their success so emboldened . . . , are now become not only difficult, but a very formidable enemy, who might at first with ease have been destroyed. . . . "Of this and the aforesaid articles were accuse Sir William Berkeley as guilty of each and every one of the same. . . . "And we do further demand that the said Sir William Berkeley with all the persons in this list be forthwith [immediately] delivered up or surrender themselves . . . , Or otherwise we declare as followeth. "That in whatsoever place . . . any of the said persons shall reside, be hid, or protected, we declare the owners . . . to be confederates and traitors to the people. . . , and this we, the Commons of Virginia, do declare, desiring a firm union amongst ourselves that we may jointly and with one accord defend ourselves against the common enemy." Nathaniel Bacon, Virginia colonist, Declaration in the Name of the People, 1676 Using the excerpt, answer (a), (b), and (c). a) Briefly identify ONE cause of the development in the excerpt. b) Briefly describe ONE argument made in the excerpt. c) Briefly describe one similarity between the Native American actions depicted in the excerpt and Native American actions in another European colony or colonial region.
a) Bacon wanted to expand British colonial territory and Berkeley refused, wanting to protect the Natives and leading to complaints b) Bacon believes Berkeley is in the wrong because Berkeley wants to keep good relations for trade with the Natives; colonists believed he was betraying them c) Metacom's War (trying to stop Europeans from encroaching on land)
a) Briefly explain how ONE specific environmental or geographical feature of the New England colonies contributed to the region's unique development before 1754. b) Briefly explain how ONE specific environmental or geographical feature of the middle colonies contributed to the region's unique development before 1754. c) Briefly explain how ONE specific environmental or geographical feature of the southern colonies contributed to the region's unique development before 1754.
a) Close proximity to coast = port cities and fishing (Mass Bay) b) Flat land and rivers = wheat carried to port cities like NYC c) Fertile soil and long growing season = cash crops (tobacco)
a) Briefly describe ONE specific historical difference in North America between the First Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. b) Briefly describe ONE specific historical similarity in North America between the First Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. c) Briefly explain ONE specific historical effect in North America of either the First Great Awakening or the Enlightenment.
a) First GA = more about religious revival; Enl = less about religion and more about scientific and rational thinking b) Both increased education (GA for the ability for people to practice religion; Enl for rational thinking skills) c) Enl = promoted natural rights later used in Declaration of Independence
"As soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into the hands of the black traders, they experience an earnest of those dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo...Nor do these unhappy beings, after they become the property of the Europeans (from whom as a more civilized people, more humanity might naturally be expected), find their situation in the least amended. Their treatment is no less rigorous. The men Negroes, on being brought aboard the ship, are immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs on their wrists, and irons riveted on their legs. They are then sent down between the decks, and placed in an apartment partitioned off for that purpose...From these instances I think it may have been clearly deduced that the unhappy Africans...have a strong attachment to their native country, together with a just sense of the value of liberty. And the situation of the miserable beings above described, more forcibly urges the necessity of abolishing a trade which is the source of such evils..." Alexander Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade (1788) Answer (a), (b), and (c). a) Briefly explain the argument made in the excerpt. b) Explain one piece of historical evidence not explicitly mentioned that supports the author's argument. c) Briefly describe ONE historical development illustrated by the excerpt.
a) Important to abolish slave trade because of harsh conditions b) Tight packing led to the death of many Africans because of sickness spreading c) Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Middle Passage brought slaves from W Africa to the Caribbean/N America to help on plantations
a) Briefly explain ONE example of how contact between Native Americans and Europeans brought changes to Native American societies in the period 1492 to 1700. b) Briefly explain a SECOND example of how contact between Native Americans and Europeans brought changes to Native American societies in the same period. c) Briefly explain ONE example of how Native American societies resisted change brought by contact with Europeans in the same period.
a) Introduction of diseases to the Natives from the Europeans (smallpox killed around 90% of Native Americans) b) Natives were forced to pay tribute in the form of labor to the Spanish (encomienda system; many Natives died) c) Metacom's War = Wampanoag Native wanting to force Europeans out. Uprising and attack; Metacom killed by Mohawks
"The Spanish have a perfect right to rule these barbarians of the New World and the adjacent islands, who in prudence, skill, virtues, and humanity are as inferior to the Spanish as children to adults, or women to men, for there exists between the two as great a difference as between savage and cruel races and the most merciful...I might even say, between apes and men. You surely do not expect me to recall at length the prudence and talents of the Spanish....Now compare these [Spanish] traits of prudence, intelligence, magnanimity [generosity], moderation, humanity, and religion with the qualities of these little men (hombrecillos)...who not only are devoid of learning but do not even have a written language; who preserve no monuments of their history...and who have no written laws but only barbaric customs and institutions...they waged continuous and ferocious war against each other, with such fury that they considered a victory hardly worthwhile if they did not glut their monstrous hunger with the flesh of their enemies... Therefore, if you wish to reduce them, I do not say to our domination, but to a servitude a little less harsh.... How can we doubt that these peoples, so uncivilized , so barbarous, contaminated with so many infidelities and vices, have been justly conquered by such an excellent, pious, and just king as the late Ferdinand the Catholic, and the present Emperor Charles, and by a nation that is most humane and excels in every kind of virtue?" Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, The Nature of Natives, 1550 " Into and among these gentle sheep, endowed by their Maker and Creator with all the qualities aforesaid, did creep the Spaniards, who no sooner had knowledge of these people than they became like fierce wolves and tigers and lions who have gone many days without food or nourishment. And no other thing have they done for forty years until this day,1 and still today see fit to do, but dismember, slay, perturb, afflict, torment, and destroy the Indians by all manner of cruelty...Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches...It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies. And also, those lands are so rich and felicitous, the native peoples so meek and patient, so easy to subject, that our Spaniards have no more consideration for them than beasts....Two principal and general customs have been employed by those, calling themselves Christians...The first being unjust, cruel, bloody, and tyrannical warfare. The other...is to oppress them with the hardest, harshest, and most heinous bondage to which men or beasts might ever be bound into. . . . Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542) a) Briefly explain the main point made by Sepulveda. b) Briefly explain the main point made by Las Casas. c) Provide ONE specific piece of evidence not explicitly mentioned in the passages, and explain how it supports the interpretation in either passage
a) It might not be fair that the Natives, who are less than the Spanish, were conquered by them because the Natives were less than b) The treatment of Natives by Spanish is cruel and unjust and Natives deserve to be treated like people. c) Aztecs were advanced (atlatl spear, chinampas)
a) Briefly describe ONE specific historical difference between the role of religion in Spanish colonization and in the colonization of New England. b) Briefly describe ONE specific historical similarity between the role of religion in Spanish colonization and in the colonization of New England. c) Briefly describe ONE specific historical effect of religion on the development of society in either the Spanish colonies or the New England colonies.
a) New England = Puritans wanting reform and escape; Spanish = Catholics wanting to spread religion b) Used religion to maintain superiority and to justify mistreatment and land usage c) Mayflower Compact (Plymouth) set laws in place with Puritans "swearing to God"
"Sir, Your Highness [of Portugal] should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways. . . . This is caused by the excessive freedom given by your agents and officials to the men and merchants who are allowed to come to this Kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have been prohibited by us, and which they spread throughout our Kingdoms . . . in such an abundance that many of our vassals, whom we had in obedience, do not comply because they have the things in greater abundance than we ourselves. . . . It is doing a great harm . . . [to] the security and peace of our Kingdoms. . . . "The mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this Kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated." Letter from King Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I) of Kongo to King John III of Portugal, 1526 a) Briefly describe ONE claim made by the author in the excerpt. b)Explain ONE specific piece of evidence that supports the point of view expressed in the excerpt. c) Briefly describe ONE historical development illustrated by the excerpt.
a) Portuguese merchants are not respecting the people in the Kingdom of the Kongo who are allowing them to set up shop to sell goods b) Mbemba describes the way that the merchants are taking people from the Kongo (abusive and detrimental b/c they are being sold into bad conditions and the population of the Kongo is decreasing significantly) c) Transatlantic Slave Trade (people from the W African coast were being traded and taken across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean)
"The Columbian connection had a devastating effect on the indigenous human societies of the Americas.... New disease vectors suddenly introduced into the vulnerable populations of the New World began a sequence of horrific pandemics. Rapidly spreading infectious disease devastated indigenous peoples of the New World. It thinned their numbers, destroyed their institutions, and broke their resistance to Spanish aggression.... Demographic recovery after major pandemics was hindered by reduced fertility, stillbirths, and other physical effects, as well as by cultural depression, hopelessness, and malaise resulting from Spanish colonial domination." — John R. Richards, The Unending Frontier, 2006 "The New World provided soils that were very suitable for the cultivation of a variety of Old World products, . . . The increased supply lowered the prices of these products significantly, making them affordable to the general population for the first time in history. The production of these products also resulted in large in flows of profits back to Europe, which some have argued fueled the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Europe. The Old World gained access to new crops that were widely adopted.... The improvement in agricultural productivity . . . had significant effects on historic population growth and urbanization." — Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian, "The Columbian Exchange," 2010 a) Briefly explain ONE specific historical difference between Richards's and Nunn and Qian's interpretations. b) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Richards's interpretation. c) Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Nunn and Qian's interpretation.
a) Richard = negative effects (disease, etc.); Nunn and Qian = positive effects (new crops) b) Encomienda system and horrible treatment of natives c) New crops (maize, potatoes) led to better lifestyles in Europe
a) Briefly explain ONE important similarity between the British colonies in the Chesapeake region and the British colonies in New England in the period from 1607 to 1754. b) Briefly explain ONE important difference between the British colonies in the Chesapeake region and the British colonies in New England in the period from 1607 to 1754. c) Briefly explain ONE factor that accounts for the difference you indicated in (b).
a) Sent resources back to England (NE = lumber; Chesapeake = tobacco) b) NE = subsistence farming (supports family with little to no surplus); Chesapeake = bigger plantations for cash crops like tobacco c) Natural resources available because Chesapeake had more fertile soil, where NE had more rocky soil
a) Briefly describe one difference between the economy of British North American colonies in the Chesapeake region and the economy of the middle colonies. b) Briefly describe one similarity between the economy of the Chesapeake colonies and the economy of the middle colonies. c) Briefly explain one reason for a difference between the economy of the Chesapeake colonies and the economy of the middle colonies.
a) Shipbuilding and lumber in Middle colonies; cash crop agriculture (tobacco) in Chesapeake b) Both exported raw goods and imported manufactured goods to/from England c) Slavery in Chesapeake = cash crops; Less slavery, more indentured servants and immigrants in Middle colonies = no ability for large plantations
"There was a vast human diversity among the peoples thrown into contact with one another in the New World. Exploration and settlement took place in an era of almost constant warfare among European nations, each racked by internal religious, political, and regional conflicts. Despite their differences, the Spanish, French, and Dutch empires shared certain features and studied and borrowed from one another, each lauding itself as superior to the others. Native Americans and Africans consisted of numerous groups with their own languages and cultures. They were as likely to fight one another as to unite against the European newcomers. All these peoples were changed by their integration into the new Atlantic economy. The complex interactions of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans would shape not only American history, but also Atlantic World history and even world history. After contact, European, Native American and African societies experienced change as they navigated these new interactions." --Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, 2011 a) Explain the argument made by the author. b) Explain one piece of historical evidence not explicitly mentioned that supports the author's argument. c) Explain one additional piece of historical evidence not explicitly mentioned that supports the author's argument.
a) The interactions between Africans, Natives, and Europeans would strongly affect the history by setting up alliances and showing strengths/weaknesses b) Encomienda system (Mexico) c) Slavery of Natives and then Africans (Jamestown tobacco plantations)
"Some of those noble persons who came in this armada [to Mexico], gentlemen, and sons of gentlemen, zealous in the service of our Lord [God], and of Your Royal Highnesses, and desirous for the exaltation of your royal crown, and the extension of your dominions, and the increase of your revenues, assembled and spoke with Captain Hernán Cortés, saying that this land was good and that, judging by the sample of gold which [an Indian leader] had brought, it was reasonable to believe that it must be very rich. . . . For these reasons, it seemed to us that it was not advantageous for Your Majesties' service to do as [Governor] Diego Velázquez had ordered Captain Hernán Cortés to do, which was to trade for all the gold we could, and, having obtained it, to return to the island of Cuba. ". . . It seemed better to all of us that a town should be founded and peopled there in the name of Your Royal Highnesses. . . . ". . . Immediately, therefore, [Cortés] began with great diligence to found and people a town, to which the name was given of Vera Cruz." Judiciary and municipal authorities of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (followers of Hernán Cortés), letter to King Charles V of Spain, explaining why they disobeyed the king's governor and colonized Mexico, 1519 a) Briefly describe ONE claim made by the author in the excerpt. b) Explain ONE specific piece of evidence that supports the point of view expressed in the excerpt. c) Briefly describe ONE historical development illustrated by the excerpt.
a) They wanted to make a colony to continue to get gold b) Native chief brought a huge thing of gold, leaving them to believe there was more of it to be mined c) Prominence of Mercantilism
a) Briefly explain ONE important similarity between the goals of the Spanish and the English in establishing colonies in the Americas prior to 1700. b) Briefly explain ONE important difference between the goals of the Spanish and the English in establishing colonies in the Americas prior to 1700. c) Briefly explain ONE way in which the difference you indicated in (b) contributed to a difference in the development of Spanish and English colonial societies.
a) Wealth (precious metals, later cash crops) b) Spanish wanted to spread Catholicism, English trying to flee religious prosecution c) English wanted to push Natives away, Spanish wanted to somewhat integrate them